1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to the field of microfluidics and, more particularly to a self-contained, microfluidic-based biological assay apparatus and associated methods and applications.
2. Technical Background
Biochemical assays are generally used in research, clinical, environmental and industrial settings to detect or quantify the presence or amount of certain gene sequences, antigens, diseases, and pathogens. The assays are often used to identify organisms including parasites, fungi, bacteria and viruses present in a host organism or a sample. Under certain conditions assays may provide a measure of quantification which may be used to calculate the extent of infection or disease and to monitor the state of a disease over time. In general, biochemical assays either detect antigens (immunoassays) or nucleic acids (nucleic acid-based or molecular assays) extracted from samples derived from research, clinical, environmental or industrial sources.
Molecular biology, which includes nucleic acid-based assays, can be broadly defined as the branch of biology that deals with the formation, structure and function of macromolecules such as nucleic acids and proteins and their role in cell replication and the transmission of genetic information, as well as the manipulation of nucleic acids, so that they can be sequenced, mutated, and further manipulated into the genome of an organism to study the biological effects of the mutation.
The conventional practice of biochemistry and molecular biology can require physical process resources on a scale that are frequently inversely proportional to the size of the subject being studied. For example, the apparatus and process chemistry associated with the preparation and purification of a biological sample such as a nucleic acid fragment for prospective analysis may easily require a full scale bio-laboratory with sterile facilities. Furthermore, an environmentally isolated facility of similar scale may typically be required to carry out the known nucleic acid amplification procedures such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for amplifying the nucleic acid fragment.
“Microfluidics” generally refers to systems, devices, and methods for processing small volumes of fluids. Microfluidic systems can integrate a wide variety of operations for manipulating fluids. Such fluids may include chemical or biological samples. These systems also have many application areas, such as biological assays (for, e.g., medical diagnoses, drug discovery and drug delivery), biochemical sensors, or life science research in general as well as environmental analysis, industrial process monitoring and food safety testing.
One type of microfluidic device is a microfluidic chip. Microfluidic chips may include micro-scale features (or “microfeatures”), such as channels, valves, pumps, reactors and/or reservoirs for storing fluids, for routing fluids to and from various locations on the chip, and/or for reacting reagents. However, existing microfluidic systems lack adequate mechanisms for allowing controlled manipulation of multiple fluids except via prescribed flow patterns, hence limiting the practicality with which the systems can be utilized in various chemical or biological assays. This is because real-world assays often require repetitive manipulation of different reagents for various analytical purposes.
Moreover, many existing microfluidic devices are restricted for one specific use and cannot be easily adapted or customized for other applications without being completely redesigned. These devices lack modularity, and therefore cannot share common device components that allow one design to perform multiple functions. This lack of flexibility leads to increased production costs as each use requires the production of a different system.
Furthermore, many existing microfluidic systems lack any means for straightforward end-point assays that are able to easily detect interactions or existence of analytes resulting from the assays. By way of example, visual detection of sample color changes after an assay is often used to evaluate the assay results.
Thus there exists a need for improved microfluidic systems for processing fluids for analysis of biological or chemical samples, and in particular, in the detection and analysis of biologically active macromolecules derived from such samples such as DNA, RNA, amino acids and proteins. It is desired that the systems are mass producible, inexpensive, and preferably disposable. It is desired that the systems be simple to operate and that many or substantially all of the fluid processing steps be automated. It is desired that the systems be customizable, and be modular such that the system can be easily and rapidly reconfigured to suit various applications in which the detection of macromolecules is desired. It is also desired that the systems be able to provide straightforward and meaningful assay results.
When performing a nucleic acid-based assay, preparation of the sample is the first and most critical step to release and stabilize target nucleic acids that may be present in the sample. Sample preparation can also serve to eliminate nuclease activity and remove or inactivate potential inhibitors of nucleic acid amplification or detection of the target nucleic acids. The method of sample preparation can vary and will depend in part on the nature of the sample being processed. Various lysis procedures are well known in the art and are designed to specifically isolate nucleic acids from cells or viruses suspended in the original sample.
Following lysis, the released nucleic acids in the sample need to be purified so that the potential inhibitors for the amplification reaction are removed from the nucleic acids. Generally, purification is a cumbersome and repetitive set of tasks consuming large amounts of reagents, capital equipment, and labor and it is often the step most associated with failure of down-steam amplification reactions.
Following purification it is generally desirable to amplify specific nucleic acid sequences using any of several nucleic acid amplification procedures which are well known in the art. Specifically, nucleic acid amplification is the enzymatic synthesis of nucleic acid amplicons (copies) which contain a sequence that is homologous to a nucleic acid sequence being amplified. Examples of nucleic acid amplification procedures practiced in the art include the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), strand displacement amplification (SDA), ligase chain reaction (LCR), Nucleic Acid Sequence Based Amplification (NASBA), transcription-associated amplification (TAA), Cold PCR, and Non-Enzymatic Amplification Technology (NEAT). Nucleic acid amplification is especially beneficial when the amount of target sequence present in a sample is very low. By amplifying the target sequences and detecting the amplicon synthesized, the sensitivity of an assay can be vastly improved, since fewer target sequences are needed at the beginning of the assay to better ensure detection of nucleic acid in the sample belonging to the organism or virus of interest.
Detection of a targeted nucleic acid sequence requires the use of a nucleic acid probe having a nucleotide base sequence that is substantially complementary to the targeted sequence or, alternatively, its amplicon. Under selective assay conditions, the probe will hybridize to the targeted sequence or its amplicon in a manner permitting a practitioner to detect the presence of the targeted sequence in a sample. Effective probes are designed to prevent nonspecific hybridization with any nucleic acid sequence that will interfere with detecting the presence of the targeted sequence. Probes and/or the amplicons may include a label capable of detection, where the label is, for example, a radiolabel, fluorescent dye, biotin, enzyme, electrochemical or chemiluminescent compound.
When performed manually, the complexity and shear number of processing steps associated with a nucleic acid-based assay introduce opportunities for practitioner-error, exposure to pathogens, and cross-contamination between assays, and others. Following a manual format, the practitioner must safely and conveniently juxtapose the test samples, reagents, waste containers, assay receptacles, pipette tips, aspirator device, dispenser device, while being especially careful not to confuse racks, test samples, assay receptacles, and associated tips, or to knock over any tubes, tips, containers, or instruments. In addition, the practitioner must carefully perform aspirating and dispensing steps with handheld, non-fixed instruments in a manner requiring precise execution to avoid undesirable contact between assay receptacles, aerosol formation, or aspiration of magnetic particles or other substrates used in a target-capture assay.
A need exists for an automated analyzer that addresses many of the concerns associated with manual approaches to performing nucleic acid-based assays. In particular, significant advantages can be realized by automating the various process steps of a nucleic acid-based assay, including greatly reducing the risk of user-error, pathogen exposure, contamination and spillage. Automating the steps of a nucleic acid-based assay will also reduce the amount training required for practitioners and virtually eliminate sources of physical injury attributable to high-volume manual applications.